How to Receive Money Via Paypal: A Step By Step Guide

Ready to make some money on PayPal? Follow our step by step guide on exactly how it’s done.

PayPal is one of the most popular payment processors for small business owners in the UK for several reasons. It’s easy to send and receive international transfers. You can manage your money easily using the platform. You can also integrate it into third-party accounting apps like FreshBooks to receive money directly from your invoices.

In this guide, we’ll break down the major ways that you can receive money via PayPal.

Here’s What We’ll Cover:

How to Set Up Your PayPal Account

How to Invoice Clients Through PayPal

How to Receive Money Using Your PayPal.me Link

How to Connect PayPal to Third-Party Apps to Receive Money

Key Takeaways

How to Set Up Your PayPal Account

Before you can start receiving money, you need a PayPal account. Here’s how to set up yours:

1. Go to PayPal.co.uk
2. On the homepage, there is a big blue button to “sign up”.
   3. Enter a valid email address. Remember you can only have one PayPal account per email address. So if your email address is already registered, the system will redirect you to login as opposed to signing up.
3. Set up your password.
4. Choose which type of account you want. A business account or a personal account. If you are accepting payments, you should use the business account as the system affords you some advantages. However personal accounts are free to run.
5. Enter your address and mobile phone number. PayPal needs a mobile number to verify your identity when you login in future.
6. Link your bank account and debit card to start receiving money. Funds can take anywhere from a couple of seconds to a couple of hours to appear in your bank account. Sometimes, with larger payments, it can take up to 3 business days. This is relatively rare however and is more to do with your bank processing the funds.

How to Invoice Clients Through PayPal

One of the coolest features of the PayPal business account is the invoice function. You may have your own invoicing system separate from PayPal. But if you don’t, it can be useful to integrate everything in one place.

1. Log into your PayPal account and click “Invoices”.
2. Create a new invoice or use one of PayPal’s templates to get your invoice started.
3. Enter the customer’s details and email address.
4. Input the amount and line items. You can also add attachments, terms and conditions, discount rates and tax amounts to your invoice.
5. Click “preview” to review your invoice the way that your client will receive it.
6. You have two ways to sending an invoice to your client. You can share a link to the invoice. Simply click on “share link to invoice” to get a short url generated by PayPal. You can then share this however you see fit. Or you can send the invoice directly from PayPal using the client’s email address. This will send them an email notification with your invoice inside. They can open the invoice in PayPal to pay.
7. Your client can then pay via the invoice directly using the payment option of their choice. They can use their PayPal balance, credit cards or debit cards.

How to Receive Money Using Your PayPal.me Link

Another easy way to receive money via PayPal is the PayPal.me link.

1. Go to PayPal.me
2. Log into your business account
3. Click “get started”
4. Decide on your PayPal link name. This is the unique name added to your url as an identifier.
5. Review the terms and conditions
6. Click “agree and create”
7. You now have a short url you can send to clients at any time to get paid directly into your PayPal account. This doesn’t need to be via email. Your PayPal.me link is simple to send on Facebook messenger, Instagram messenger, WhatsApp and other social network platforms.
8. The client can pay you directly using any payment method they choose.

How to Connect PayPal to Third-Party Apps to Receive Money

Another way to receive money via PayPal is via third-party apps.

Many eCommerce platforms and plugins link to PayPal accounts.

Likewise, our accounting software allows you to receive payments after you send an invoice.

To link your PayPal account to third-party apps, all you need is your PayPal account email address. You connect the email address to the app directly and you’re all set to receive payments.

Key Takeaways

Accepting payments through PayPal is incredibly easy. They have made a robust system that allows you to personalise how you receive money.

For more expert guides on PayPal like this one, head to our UK resource hub.

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